Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Kiev, Ukraine

DAY 212: Kyiv, Ukraine
Maidan Nezalezhnosti - or Independence Square - is a square in the center of Kiev and also the site of Euromaidan - the wave of demonstrations & protests that started in the cold November of 2013 in Ukraine and continued for months on end as a stand for a closer integration with the EU & against governmental corruption.
The hotel you see behind the statue of Archangel Michael is Hotel Ukrayina - on whose roof the riot police & snipers were stationed. At the peak of the tensions, it was from there that they shot into the crowded square below killing about 100 people last February.
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE:
As we all know from the news - the protests escalated to violent clashes between the police and the citizens gathered in the square. About 100 people died - but that did not stop the people of Kiev and Ukraine from coming to the square day and night & self-organizing in an impressive effort to stand for their beliefs & defend passionately their desire to achieve a closer European integration and decrease governmental corruption.
I arrived in Kiev the day before the city's preparations for National day went underway & in my first day - you could still see the makeshift memorials and candles built in the places where people had died from the bullets of the police snipers. There were tires decorated with flowers in support of those who fought. Colored bricks right next to the tires spelled "peace" , "Ukraine" and "love" in Cyrillic...
...being there... walking down the streets and the very square where months before we all watched the revolution unfold was surreal. Engaging & talking to locals about Euromaidan and the protests was inspiring & it is fair to say it completely blew me away.
The spirit of the Ukrainian people and their desire & readiness to fight for their convictions is absolutely amazing! It made me proud of the Ukrainians...even though I'm not Ukrainian myself... After all, it is rare to people unite & self-organize - especially in the harsh conditions of the country's notoriously cold winters - and support each other and their collective desire for governmental change.
We all can learn a thing or two from Kievans & the people of Ukraine...
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